Showing results for main clause. Search instead for main+clause.

main clause

American

noun

Grammar.

a clause that can stand alone as a sentence, containing a subject and a predicate with a finite verb, as I was there in the sentence I was there when he arrived.

main clause British

noun

grammar a clause that can stand alone as a sentence Compare subordinate clause

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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The main clause expresses the main idea of the sentence, and the subordinate clause expresses the less important idea.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

Like a main clause, a subordinate clause has a subject and verb; however, unlike a main clause, it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

A main clause contains a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a sentence.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

Inserting "we find" or "we see" into the main clause to avoid a dangler can make the sentence stuffy and self-conscious.

From The Guardian • Aug. 15, 2014

Inserting we find or we see into the main clause to avoid a dangler can make the sentence stuffy and self-conscious.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023